NATO fighter jets conducting the Alliance's air-policing mission from Lithuania and Estonia were last week scrambled eight times to identify and escort Russian military aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, intercepting a total of 21 Russian planes, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

A unit of Lithuanian troops is readying for a mission in Africa – they will join the United Nations (UN) mission in Mali, western Africa, in October where the international community aims to curb Islamic fighters.

Lithuania's cyber security specialists are currently searching for a replacement of the unsafe software used by state institutions. Linked with Russia, the software leaves gaps that allow system hacking, Defense Vice-Minister Edvinas Kerza said.

International NATO battalions in the Baltic Sea region are an integral part of regional defense, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė said after meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Rukla, central Lithuania, on Friday.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service's move to terminate a contract with Helisota helicopter and aircraft repairs company, which is indirectly owned by businessman Gediminas Žiemelis, was legitimate, as the contract threatened Lithuania's national security, the Court of Appeals ruled.

About 50 military objects of various functions will be built for US money in the Lithuanian army's training grounds of Pabradė and Gaižiūnai, the Mumaičiai military territory and the Aviation Base in Šiauliai this year, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

NATO fighter-jets serving in the Baltic air-policing mission from Lithuania and Estonia were last week scrambled eight times to intercept and accompany Russian warplanes flying above the Baltic Sea, identifying a total of 18 warplanes.

The United States (US) will double the number of air-policing fighter-jets in Lithuania during the large-scale Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad 2017 this fall, President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.

Lithuania on Friday received an invitation from the Belarusian Defense Ministry to all accredited foreign defense attaches to take part in the observation program of the joint Belarusian-Russian strategic exercise Zapad 2017.

The 24 th class has graduated from the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, receiving the rank of lieutenant from President Dalia Grybauskaitė at a solemn ceremony at Simono Daukanto Square in Vilnius on Friday.

Althrough the official Minsk says that foreign representatives will be free to watch the Belarusian-Russian Zapad 2017 military training, Lithuania has not received an invitation yet, Lietuvos Žinios daily said.

Lithuania's government has decided to write off eight armored cross-country vehicles Toyota Land Cruiser used by the country's soldiers in the operation in Afghanistan, as they are not worth repairing.